New Man Could be Clintons' Nightmare-in-Waiting

by John Crudele

That's because the guy likely to take over -- deputy independent
counsel Hickman Ewing -- is a tough-as-nails criminal
prosecutor who won't be nearly as politically sensitive as Starr
has been.

If Ewing had been in charge of the Whitewater probe from the
start, Bill Clinton probably wouldn't be in the White House right
now, because an array of charges -- including possible
allegations of cocaine use and racketeering -- would have
surfaced long before last November's election.

With his home in Memphis, Tenn., and his office in Little Rock,
Ark., Ewing just isn't fazed by the Washington politics that have
been keeping Starr at bay. And since few people, even in the
media, know his name or influence, Ewing has been able to
avoid becoming the lightning rod for criticism.

And worse for the White House is that Ewing flat-out thinks Bill
and Hillary Rodham Clinton are corrupt. I know, because I've
discussed the matter with him. And the minute he can prove it,
Ewing will be bold enough to bring the First Couple to trial.

Remember that it was Ewing who was in charge of last year's
trial of Jim and Susan McDougal and former Arkansas Gov. Jim
Guy Tucker. At that trial, Bill Clinton was forced to testify on
videotape.

"This is very bad for the Democrats," says a source of mine in
Arkansas who is very close to Ewing. "Their nightmare is Hick
Ewing. If he is the lead prosecutor, this is their WORST
nightmare."

Starr has been handling the Whitewater investigation for 2 1/2
years, all the time expanding its scope as more evidence of
wrongdoing surfaced.

Starr's decision to join Pepperdine University in California next
August was met with subdued elation by the White House,
where anonymous sources were quoted widely as wondering
aloud how the probe could continue without his involvement.

Starr's answer: Federal prosecutors leave their jobs all the
time without their cases being aborted.

If you could have gotten him to expound a bit more on the
subject, Starr probably would have admitted that it was Ewing,
and not he, who was handling all the prosecutions -- and that
matters concerning the president are leaving the investigation
stage and being readied for a grand jury.

The only legal document Starr has written in the Whitewater
case came in the unsuccessful effort to have Gov. Tucker's
next trial moved up from its current date of mid-September.
Most of the grunt work has been coming out of Ewing's Little
Rock office.

Ewing hasn't been available for comment since Starr's
announcement. But it is clear that if Ewing wants the job, as far
as Starr is concerned, it is his.

He and Starr met yesterday for hours in Ewing's Little Rock
office. The meeting started at 9 a.m. and didn't even break for
lunch. The two men ordered in.

Starr and Ewing also spent a lot of time together last week in
Little Rock. One of my sources says the two men met late into
the night last Tuesday. At the time, none of us knew what was
going on. Now it is clear that Starr was planning his succession
strategy.

Starr also will be leaving behind a staff of extremely competent
associates to help Ewing out. Steve Parker is a homicide
investigator who previously worked with Ewing in Memphis,
and was recently shifted temporarily from the probe of White
House aide Vince Foster's death to the continuing investigation
of Webster Hubbell.

Then there are newcomers Thomas Dawson, who was recently
hired as an associate independent counsel because of his
experience prosecuting organized crime, and Solomon
Wisenberg, whose expertise is the prosecution of financial
crimes. Both are Southerners who have worked with Ewing --
not Starr -- in the past.

Ewing's influence has been expanding. Jackie Bennett, an
associate independent counsel who worked with Ewing in
Arkansas, is scheduled to move to Washington soon to
become the second-in-charge at that office. Bennett will
probably play second fiddle to Ewing if Ewing gets the top job.

"Ewing doesn't care if you are a Republican, Democrat or
Independent. If you break the law, he believes you ought to be
prosecuted. He's a very fair, but very tough prosecutor," says
his friend.

Don't believe it? Friends of Ewing are quick to tell the story
about how Ewing had been influenced by the failings of his
father, Hickman Ewing Sr., who was one of the winingest
high-school football coaches in the South but also a corrupt
small-time politician.

Ewing Sr. went to jail, and that -- friends say -- made the son the
toughest anti-corruption prosecutor they know.

"He is a most zealous prosecutor," Edgar Gillock, a former
state senator who Ewing pursued for 10 years and sent to
prison for two, told the Wall Street Journal in a feature on
Ewing that ran last summer.

"If I were the president of the United States, or anyone else that
Mr. Ewing is pursuing, I'd say that you're in great danger," said
Gillock.

A panel of three federal judges appointed Starr and the judges
will have the final say on his successor. This may not be a bad
time for the White House and its attack dog James Carville to
pull the newspaper clips on Hickman Ewing Jr. -- and see what
they might be up against.